FOREST LAWS 



CONCERNING 



ILROADS 




f-ROM THE FORF^^r [ \'^ '^ 

OF THE 

.TH OF MASSACHUSETTS 



IK WM. PANE 

STATE FORESTER 
iHOUSE . BOSTON, MASS. 



VV' ;r .t?:^. /' iv-,--"^-:: 




FOREST LAWS 

CONCERNING 

RAILROADS 




EXTRACTS FROM THE FOREST LAWS 

OF THE 

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS 



FRANK WM. PANE 

STATE FORESTER 
STATE HOUSE . BOSTON, MASS. 



v^b\.-\ 



r< 



D. OFft 
WAR 14 1908 






LAND ADJOINING RAILROADS AND 
POWERS AND DUTIES OF RAILROADS 



Spark- Arrester. Must Remove 
Inflammable Material 

1907, 431, sec. 1. Every corporation operat- 
ing a steam railroad within this Commonwealth 
shall, subject to the approval of the board of 
railroad commissioners, install and maintain a 
spark-arrester on every engine in its service in 
which wood, coke or coal is used as fuel, and 
shall, between the first day of April and the first 
day of December in each year, keep the full 
width of all of its locations over which such 
engines are operated, to a point two hundred feet 
distant from the centre line on each side thereof, 
clear of dead leaves, dead grass, dry bush or 
other inflammable material, and shall not at any 
time leave any deposit of fire, hot ashes or live 

3 



RAILROAD FOREST LAWS 

coals upon its locations in the immediate vicinity 
of woodlands or grass lands, and shall post in 
stations and other conspicuous places within its 
location and right of way such notices and warn- 
ing placards as are furnished to it for the purpose 
by the state forester : provided, that nothing in 
this section shall be construed to prohibit any 
railroad corporation from piling or keeping upon 
its location or right of way cross-ties or other 
material necessary for the maintenance and oper- 
ation of its railroad. 

May Clear Land Adjoining Location 

1907, 431, sec. 2. Any railroad corporation 
may, upon giving notice according to the pro- 
visions of this section, enter upon unimproved 
land adjoining any location or right of way upon 
which it operates engines burning wood, coke or 
coal, and may there at its own expense and 
subject to the direction of the forest warden, or 
the officer or board having his powers, in the city 
or town in which the land is situated, clear such 
land of dead leaves, dead grass and dead wood 

4 



RAILROAD FOREST LAWS 

to a distance of one hundred feet from the tracks, 
without thereby becoming liable for trespass : 
provided^ that no railroad corporation shall, 
under the provisions of this section, do any acts 
on unimproved land outside its location or right 
of way, unless it has within two mouths given 
fourteen days' notice in writing by mail or other- 
wise to the occupant of the land, and to the 
owner thereof, if he resides or has a usual place 
of business in the city or town in which it is 
situated, and if the land is unoccupied and the 
owner does not reside or have a usual place of 
business in the city or town, then, unless the rail- 
road corporation has within two months published 
notice of its purpose once in three successive 
weeks in a newspaper published in the county in 
which the land is situated, and unless it has 
within three days given at least twenty-four 
hours' notice to the forest warden [or the officer 
or board having his powers], in the city or town 
in which the land is situated of the location of 
the land which it intends to enter under the pro- 
visions of this section, and of the time at which 
it intends to enter the same ; and provided^ 

5 



RAILROAD FOREST LAWS 

further^ that no notice hereby required shall be 
valid unless it sets forth the provisions of this 
section. 

Railroad Fire Signal 

1907, 431, sec. 3. Any engineer, conductoi 
or other employee on a train who discovers a fire 
burning uncontrolled on lands adjacent to the 
tracks shall forthwith cause a fire signal to be 
sounded from the engine, which shall consist oi 
one long and three short whistle blasts 
repeated several times, and shall notify the 
next sectionmen whom the train passes, and the 
next telegraph station, of the existence and loca- 
tion of the fire. The provisions of this sectior 
shall not affect the authority conferred upon th( 
board of railroad commissioners by the provision? 
of section one hundred and forty-eight of Part IT. 
of chapter four hundred and sixty- three of th( 
acts of the year nineteen hundred and six. 

Duties of Railroad Employees 

1907, 431, sec. 4. Sectionmen or other em- 
ployees of a railroad corporation who receive 

6 



RAILROAD FOREST LAWS 

notice of the existence and location of a fire 
burning on land adjacent to the tracks shall 
forthwith proceed to the fire and shall use all 
reasonable efforts to extinguish it : provided, that 
they are not at the time employed in labors im- 
mediately necessary to the safety of tracks or to 
the safety and convenience of passengers and 
the public. 



Duty of Corporation 

1907, 431, sec. 5. Railroad corporations shall 
inform their employees as to their duties under 
this act and shall furnish them with the appro- 
priate facilities for reporting and extinguishing 
such fires. 



Proviso as to Park Lands 

1907, 431, sec. 6. Nothing in this act shall 
be construed to give any railroad corporation 
power to enter upon, or to interfere in the man- 
agement or care of, any public park or reservation. 

7 



RAILROAD FOREST LAWS 



SPECIAL LIABILITY OF RAILROADS 



Railroads Liable for Fire and May- 
Procure Insurance 

R. L. Ill, sec. 270. Every railroad corpora- 
tion and street railway company shall be liable in 
damages to a person or corporation whose build- 
ings or other property may be injured by fire 
communicated by its locomotive engines, and 
shall have an insurable interest in the property 
upon its route for which it may be so held liable, 
and may procure insurance thereon in its own 
behalf. If it is held liable in damages, it shall 
be entitled to the benefit of any insurance effected 
upon such property by the owner thereof, less 
the cost of premium and expense of recovery. 
The money received as insurance shall be de- 
ducted from the damages, if recovered before 
they are assessed ; and if not so recovered, the 
policy of insurance shall be assigned to the cor- 
poration which is held liable in damages, and it 
may maintain an action thereon. 

8 



